


just a little longer

by soft (onlysweeter), squishy (Snowingiron)



Series: In The Stars (dark narry demigod au) [7]
Category: One Direction (Band), Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Bonding, Character Study, Family Bonding, Family Dynamics, Father-Son Relationship, M/M, Other, Parent-Child Relationship, Self-Discovery, stop projecting your own feelings on characters 2k17, tears went into this... lots of tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 05:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10847286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlysweeter/pseuds/soft, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowingiron/pseuds/squishy
Summary: Time goes by. It always does. Sometimes it floats gently, like a feather falling to the ground, sometimes it is harsh and fast, like water. But it doesn't move backwards and it never stands still, it just feels like it every now and then. Time is a force no god or titan has ever mastered.Helios tries to figure out mortal concepts and learns something about himself. With some help from Harry and Niall.





	just a little longer

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah... this is just a little thing. Soft and I were talking about this verse yesterday and how much we miss it. And how much we miss Helios, actually. So we hope you'll enjoy this little snippet!
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Time goes by. It always does. Sometimes it floats gently, like a feather falling to the ground, sometimes it is harsh and fast, like water. But it doesn't move backwards and it never stands still, it just feels like it every now and then. Time is a force no god or titan has ever mastered and to many immortals it doesn't even mean anything because it doesn't concern them. Only mortals fear it, seek it, write poetry about it, have feelings that are forever influenced by it. Time heals wounds or rips them open, it is given or taken by a single choice. Time is neither beautiful nor ugly.

But Helios has always felt time. Time started for him when he was caged by Zeus. It's what he needed to gather enough strength for a chance to break free. Time is also what he needed in order to grow strong again in the depths of Tartarus before he was sent back to his cage. He is still growing, but now he is free. He is free and breathes air and watches the world change around him. Buildings sprout, mortals die, mortals are born. They spend their lifetime believing in nothing or everything. Old gods, new gods, many gods, one god. There are more gods who died or faded, Helios remembers Liam's hands covered in golden blood, an expression on his face that reeked of justice, not regret. No, not justice... revenge. He had killed a goddess and then pressed his tainted hands to Louis' face, a proof of his devotion and love, a promise that has finally been fulfilled. Their love is everywhere, sprinkled over the Camp and the whole world like seeds of something dangerous that has yet to grow.

Human. They are human emotions and it delights Helios to learn more from those new gods. They are not gods actually, not titans and they don't stand still like them. They are immortal now and yet they still change with the world. Helios admires that. Back then no one had thought of changing. Changing would mean that time is relevant. And it is now, perhaps. He feels like it gets meaning with every year and decade that passes. Centuries even. And they are not the people anymore Helios had met in Tartarus. They are more than gods or titans. They are something greater and Helios would be stupid not to acknowledge it. He doesn't want to fade one day, like others. Like Eos, the sister he barely remembers. She was the dawn and her home the place between the sky and the sea, the moment between Selene falling asleep and Helios waking up. She was just a blink of an eye, hardly there. Helios doesn't know whether she's still alive or has been reduced to nothing but a natural occurrence. Does he miss her? He can't tell.

Gods and titans always needed to be reminded of things in order to not forget about them. He can't forget Selene because she's always there, a grown wolf now who refuses to change shape, who didn't forget about the mortal woman who had raised her, whose tomb Selene chose as her home, the place where she still feels safe when she sleeps. Back in those guarding arms. Even Helios remembers her and the flowers that still spring from her grave on the hill. He doesn't forget about her because Harry tells him it is important to remember. Everything. It's been so long and yet Helios is not back to his old strength. He has the body of a juvenile now but the power of oath and the gift of sight has not returned to him.

"Be patient,” Harry whispers against his temple. "You're young."

But he is really, really not. Thousands of years have passed for him, time keeps rolling, keeps twisting him, but he is not young. He tells Harry that, over and over again, but all he does is smile. Sometimes he cracks a joke about it and Helios has to laugh, forgetting about his bitterness in mere seconds. Harry always does that to him, sometimes with an arm around his shoulders as they walk by the lake. Sometimes with both arms around him while Helios buries his face in his shoulder. Harry smells of love, always.

Niall is a little different. He shines bright like the sun, like Helios himself and he likes that. He likes it when Niall takes his hand and they wander the sky together. Harry calls them Skywalkers sometimes, straight from Tatooine. Helios doesn't get it until they make him watch the movies. But where Harry is soft and caring Niall can be wild and unforgiving. Helios knows about that too well, knows how rage festers below the surface and condemns you for eternity. His curse, his punishment, his imprisonment was _supposed_ to last forever. When a god curses you there is no end, no sentence to carry out for a lapse of time. It is forever because time doesn't mean anything. At least that is what he had always thought.

Helios made a mistake once, one he regretted and the blue of Niall's eyes had bled down his face in serious anger. It was the first time Helios had cried like that, with an ache in his heart. He was so sure that Niall hated him now, _forever_. That's what time means, right? But then Niall was there, wiping the tears from his face with surprisingly tender fingers.

"I'm sorry Niall," Helios choked.

"I know. I'm not angry anymore."

"You're not?"

Niall shook his head, hand firmly on Helios' neck. "No. But don't forget about this. Learn from it and move on. I forgive you, okay?"

Forgiveness. It had sounded so irrational. But it's something they've taught him among many other things. And maybe that's why he's growing so slowly, why it's not like other times when he had reformed. There is purpose in time, _this_ time. Time is confusing, he's not gonna lie. For the longest time he had waited for Niall to snap at him, to make it clear that he's _not_ forgiven. He had waited for Niall to crush his heart that has become so tender and vulnerable. But he never did. And neither did Harry.

It is strange, the way they treat him. Like a child that is theirs even though Helios isn't. He's neither a child nor their son. But Harry still holds him in his arms sometimes, rocking him until the sun goes down and he falls asleep. It's also the place where he wakes, safe and warm, greeted with a dimpled smile. Niall sings with Helios' head in his lap and it's the most beautiful sound that has ever filled his ears. He believes Niall has become greater than his father.

Father.

Mother.

Sister.

Uncle.

Labels. To gods and titans they were nothing but labels but to mortals? To them? They mean something, they are filled with purpose, with history, with dynamics that express devotion and care. Harry and Niall are not his fathers, like Louis, Liam and Zayn are not his uncles. But they act like them and even though Helios doesn't always understand it, he indulges them. It is not a hardship. Spending time with them is what fills eternity with light.

But Helios _had_ a father. He had a mother. He still has a sister. Hyperion was the light he came from and Theia the emptiness that bore him. But the first titans never existed like this, they _are_ but they don't experience. Helios likes this existence though, even if it's just to piss off Apollo whenever he visits. He thrives on the god's rage like he does on Harry's and Niall's love. Not just the love they spare for others but also the love they have for each other. When their eyes meet there is nothing else, no war, no peace, no time and Helios is sure whenever their lips brush together in a tender kiss the universe cracks and a new star is born. It's something that lasts longer than a lifetime. It is forever. It is beautiful but also dangerous and scary in the most consuming way possible because there aren't just soft kisses between them. If you hurt something they love they will tear you to shreds. Like they did with Zeus, like Liam did with Demeter and Zayn with a whole city. Quiet rage can be the most devastating.

What are they then, to Helios? Harry calls them a family. Those mortal terms... He doesn't know if he can live up to them, if he can fully understand what it means. He thinks about Hyperion, he thinks about Theia. And Eos, who is lost to him. What does he share with them, other than blood? Blood means relation, not family. Perhaps family is the way they comfort him when he is sad and oh, Helios knows about sadness. Maybe it's also Louis trying to cheer him up by taking him into the city. Maybe it's Zayn turning his sadness into art and when he looks at it, it doesn't feel like his own anymore. It's also Liam listening to his worries because as soon as they leave his mouth his heart unknots and it's easier to breathe. It's Harry and Niall treating him like a child, no matter how much he grows. He has seen it before, in the way Dionysus deals with Harry and how Harry easily falls back into that role. Perhaps that's just the way it is. Yeah, it is not about blood, it's about feelings.

And Harry was right, he _is_ young. It doesn't have anything to do with time, age or what he looks like. It has to do with the way he _feels_. He likes how they treat him, he loves it even. He never had the chance to be a child before so maybe he wants to stay young, just a little longer. With Harry's hands in his hair and Niall humming a song to him right before he falls asleep.

Family is all of them coming together in celebration once a year and each year Helios gets presents from them. There is wine and food and for the longest time Helios doesn't make the connection. He gets many things but he likes Harry's gift best. It's a golden necklace, like a bib that covers his entire neck. It's beautiful, with strips of gold that are weaved together in an Irish pattern and in the middle of it sits the emblem of a sun. It's just _a_ sun but Helios feels that it looks like him. It fills his eyes with a few tears that he blinks away and then he looks at Harry, who watches him with a gentle smile. And suddenly Helios realises and remembers that today is the day they met, deep down in Tartarus, where Harry had promised to save him and his sister, where he had kept that promise. Helios never forgot the relief he had felt when Harry had offered his hand to him with a smile. The same smile he's giving him now.

_Come on. I'll take you home too._

"Is it my birthday today?" He asks curiously and Harry just blinks at him, a slight blush to his cheeks but that could be the wine he's currently sipping from.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he mumbles and looks away.

Helios frowns and turns to Niall, but he's only laughing at his soulmate.

"Harry, you're a hopeless idiot."

"Hey," Harry pouts and then they launch themselves into a discussion about who of them is more hopeless. Helios thinks both of them deserve the title.

But it finally clicks in his head, what those words mean. Family, father. He knows with absolute clarity that this is what they are to him, this strangely mortal concept finally settling into his brain. He wonders why he hasn't realised it sooner.

They love him. They care for him, they raise him in a way, they are _there_. They give and _for_ give. They include him in their tiny little circle of forever and it's so very unconditional, he has never experienced anything like it. And he would give back to them, all of them. He would. Maybe he'll never stop growing, maybe he'll _out_ grow what he has been before and become something completely new, something better. But they'll always treat him like this, they'll always love him like this.

The realisation makes him want to burst into tears, but instead he's interrupting their discussion by lifting up the necklace and holding it out to Harry. His eyes immediately flicker to the titan, a little confused, but Helios needs to do it and the words slip so easily from his mouth, so clear with understanding.

"Will you help me put it on, _Dad_?"

Harry is stunned to silence. He's staring at Helios with wide green eyes that always drip with emotion and right now Helios can't exactly tell which it is. But then he presses his lips together into a thin line like he's trying to hold something back.

"Of course," he croaks, voice thick with affection. Harry radiates it and it gives Helios a happy feeling. Harry is very careful when he takes the necklace from Helios' hands to drape it around his neck, fastening the little hooks that keep it on. It's heavy and shiny and Helios really likes it.

"Looks beautiful," Niall tells him with a smile that makes his skin glow.

"Thanks, _Da_."

It's almost hilarious to see them tear up like that, from a single word that suddenly has so much meaning and so much power. He doesn't regret it though and he closes his eyes when they kiss his forehead.

"Happy birthday," Harry whispers, finally answering Helios' earlier question.

He is happy. Something he has felt for a while now but never named it like that. He still needs to learn, doesn't he? But for now he enjoys the attention, the food and the drinks. ("No alcohol for you." - "But I'm thousands of years old." - "Doesn't matter." - "But Louis said–" - "I told you not to listen to Louis, I won't let him get you drunk again." - "Ugh, fine.")

He stuffs his face with cake and watches Dionysus trip over his drunk feet, which makes Louis fall from his chair with laughter. He does it so openly where Liam and Zayn do it secretly, behind their hands. Selene is sleeping by his feet while Harry and Niall remain a safe constant by his side and he can't imagine to be anywhere else.

This is home. This is family. He'll never let himself forget that.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You know how much we appreciate the feedback ;D in case you want to indulge us... We really hope you like it! BECAUSE I CRIED.


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